Refurbishing and Upgrading
my Char-Griller Grill and Smoker Stage one
gryniewski home :: stage two
Making modifications and painting the Smokin Pro by
Chargriller
The old backyard Char-Griller has been around for about 3
years now and put to heavy use. It has been over temperature a number of times -
not taken care of quite like it should have been and ended up with a good
portion of the powder coat peeling off.
After the powder coat gave way the rust came in and started gobbling up everything amazingly fast - it was time to step in and save my old friend from complete destruction!
This is stage one of the refurbishing - the power wash, sanding, painting, basket mod, wheels mod, smokestack mod and more!
First I power washed the greasy chunks away and used a wire wheel attached to
my drill
to get it presentable enough to take to the garage.
(well with my friend Aaron's help - thanks Aaron!)
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The sanding and wire brushing was labor intensive as I left it go so long.
You can see the large patches of missing powder coat on the bottom here. : top
The garage workshop was pretty small but with all the rain we had it was my only hope to get it done. : top
What a rust bucket! Notice the ears on the opening for the
SFB on the left - those had to be cut off to make the : top
nice football shaped opening and it was not real easy!
Major progress finally. This side is nearly ready for
paint and as you see nearly all of the powder coat
is gone and down to bare metal - that was a lot of work. : top
This side needs more attention and those dog gone ears! How do I cut them without a jigsaw? Arghhh : top
A lot of help this guy was. He drank all my beer and watched me sand. : top
Getting down to business with the bottom of this beast was
not fun either. I had no saw horses so I had
the kneel a lot and that is never comfortable. : top
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My buddy Andy McNasty stopped by to "help" also. He drank beer from the keg. Thanks Andy! : top
Ok, I took a break and made some ribs - (shhhhhhhhh - in
the oven) Oh the humanity! We ate them too quick for more
pictures so all you get to see are the raw ribs with a touch of Pappy's Original
rub... they were tasty. : top
Ok let's jump to some of the mods. I bought a new SFB from
CG and first thing to do was the straps and basket mod.
I used hanger iron and decided to curl the extra under instead of up to get a
cleaner look. : top
Ok, below you see that we cut those pesky ears off. Andy McNasty came in handy with a jigsaw and metal blade.
We then drank more Killian's from the garage keg. Another day gone. :
top
Below: Some pics of the paint job after 5 coats. Picture
quality isn't too good but the paint is looking great so far.
You can see I decided to just paint over the Char-Griller logo. I talked to the
CG folks and I am getting a new
logo plaque from them at the end of August 2008 - for $5.00! :
top
I used Rustoleoum High Heat Ultra spray paint and went
through 3 small cans and 2 of the 15oz bonus cans.
There is a little left in the last can but not much. That's a lot of paint. :
top
Below are some miscellaneous parts I painted as they
suspend from a hanger. Hope no one
notices the Breakfast Club movie poster in the background..... at this point we
had more beer.
Kiss another day goodbye! : top
Now back to the mods. As part of the SFB strap and basket
mod, I had this charcoal basket custom made.
It is stainless and VERY heavy.
A huge thank you goes out to my friends that made this great charcoal basket
for me:
Thanks JP, Ron S, Bill
G., Randy S. and the infamous Charlie S. for fabricating the uber-basket for free.
You guys rock! Great job... (now can I get a dozen made up to sell??)
Also, thanks
to my buddy Al W. for setting this up.
I wonder if the holes will allow enough ash to fall down to the ash pan without
shaking the heck out if it??
UPDATE (7-31-08)
The basket holes are fine and the ashes sift through just dandy. I shake the
basket when I am adding fuel
just to make sure things are open on the bottom but it's no big deal - it works
great and my fires are not being choked out at all
even on long burns - success!
: top
The custom basket in the SFB on the straps. You can see that the welds are not stainless. No worries. : top
The drawer slides out with ease and doesn't disturb the charcoal basket at all. : top
Old pieces and parts for the trash dump. You will see later
that I did the wheels mod so these stock wheels
have to go. And that ash pan..... oh my.... what can I say. I got a new one from
CG, this one was hopeless. : top
Skipping ahead a little bit to the dry run on the assembly
and fitting of the new axles and tires.
Notice I added a 2" thermometer at grate level here. All the wood has been
sanded down as best we could and all
bolts and nuts have been replaced with new stainless hardware.
The axles have to be trimmed down and holes drilled for cotter pins - we are getting there though! : top
At this point I added the new rotisseries hardware and
tested that rig out - no problems.
Also note that the insides still need attention - that comes later - not done
yet! : top
More paint shots. That handle is the stock handle and
after this pic it actually broke apart. It has been replaced
with new 1 1/4" dowel from Home Depot. : top
Many more pics to come showing the end of the project.
I will post pics of the smokestack vent mod and the final
pics of the wheels and axles being finished up as well as
shots of the completed smoker - stay tuned for more! : top
Ski-BBQ
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Parts List so far:
New main chamber ash pan | Char-Griller | $ |
New Main chamber cast iron grates | Char-Griller | $ |
Rotisserie Kit | Char-Griller | $ |
New Cover | Char-Griller | $ |
New Side Fire Box | Char-Griller | $217.00 total for this and all above |
4 new Wheels - with ball bearing hubs and stainless cotter pins | Western Auto | $35.00 |
2 new 1/2" steel stock (36") axles and hanger iron for SFB straps | Johnson's Hardware | $17.50 |
New thermometer for grate level | River Country | $12.00 |
New dowel for SFB and main chamber handles (48 inches) | Home Depot | $3.69 |
3" x 8' semi rigid dryer vent and hose clamp | Home Depot | $8.69 |
Stainless bolts, nuts, washers etc. | Ace Hardware | $30.00 |
Custom charcoal basket | Friends made this | $FREE |
New pair grilling gloves | eBay | $10.00 |
Vertical Rib racks x 2 | eBay | $25.00 |
Instant read thermometer | Wal-Mart | $5.00 |
Small Cast iron smoke box for chips and small smoke jobs | Wal-Mart | $9.00 |
Rustoleoum High Heat Ultra Paint x 5 | Wal-Mart | $34.00 |
New Char-Griller logo | Char-griller | $5.00 |
New main chamber replacement stock thermometer | eBay | $2.99 |
Beer to get people to help me | my kegs and cases | Too Much! |
Grand Total - | $423.76 |
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